Apparatus for changing the relative position of the conductors during the manufacture of a telecommunication cable

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a device for varying the relative locations of stranded wires in a cable during the manufacture of such cable comprises a plurality of wire guides, one for each wire, for guiding the wires as the same are fed into a wire twisting machine. The wire guides are independently movable between two limit positions extending across the generally parallel travel path of the wires so that each of the wires can be guided in any selected position relative to the position of the other wires in the cable.

United States atent Neovius et al.

[ 1 Sept. 11, 1973 APPARATUS FOR CHANGING THE RELATIVE POSITION OF THE CONDUCTORS DURING THE MANUFACTURE OF A TELECOMMUNTCATION CABLE Inventors: Torsten Otto Neovius, Saltsjobaden; Karl-Erik Svensson, Hagersten, both of Sweden Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson,

Stockholm, Sweden Filed: Feb. 10, 1971 Appl. No.: 114,292

Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 25,' 1970 Sweden 2416/70 US. Cl. 57/34 R, 57/34 AT, 57/66.5,

57/106 lint. Cl. 1101b 11/04 Field of Search 57/12, 13, 14, 34,

111211, glli [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,001,353 9/1961 Lapsley... 57 12 3,166,881 l/1965 Servage 57/34 2,412,196 12/1946 Ashbaugh et al. 57/59 2,990,672 7/1961 Demmel r 57/34 3,194,873 7/1965 Demmel et al. 57/34 X 3,344,595 10/1967 Johnson 57/106 Primary ExaminerWerner l-l. Schroeder AttorneyHane, Baxley & Spiecens [57] ABSTRACT 2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures APPARATUS FOR CHANGING THE RELATIVE POSITION F THE CONDUCTORS DURING THE MANUFACTURE OF A TELECOMMUNICATION CABLE The present invention relates to an apparatus to be used during the manufacture of a telecommunication, cable including insulated conductors which are twisted together. The apparatus is intended to vary, along the cable, the relative positions of the conductors with respect to each other within the cable and comprises a number of wire guides corresponding to the number of conductors which are arranged to guide one conductor each when the conductors are fed into a twisting machine.

Several machines and methods for improving the transmission qualities of a cable by changing, along its length, the relative positions of the conductors and/or the conductor groups are known. According to one of these methods the conductors or conductor groups that are in the cable are rolled on bobbins arranged on carriages or similar devices, which during the cable manufacture are brought to make movements that are random or guided in relation to each other. An apparatus for cable manufacture according to this method will however be relatively space-demanding. Due to the weight of the bobbins relatively great forces are furthermore required for changing the relative positions of the conductors and for the same reason the intervals between the position-changes or crossings of the conductors will be long.

According to another method the relative positions of the conductors are changed before they are twisted together so that the conductors coming from stationary bobbins pass wire guides arranged in an outeran an inner circular wire guide carrier which are concentricaly positioned and can be turned 180 around the common axis. By this ability of the wire guide carriers to be turned 180 the number of alternative possibilities for varying the relative position of the conductors will be limited. If a conductor group consists of eight conductors there will consequently be only four alternatives.

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which requires little space and has movable members of a small mass whereby rapid shifts of the order of the conductors are made possible, as well as a high manufacturing speed. Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which inakes possible that all position alternatives due to the number of conductors are utilized.

The characteristics will appear from the subsequent claims.

An embodiment of the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawe.

which in FIG. 1 schematically and partly in perspective shows an embodiment of an arrangement according to the invention for manufacturing a five-wire cable, and

which in FIG. 2 shows a wire guide and a pneumatic device for moving the wire guide.

In FIG. 1, which schematically and partly in perspective shows an embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention, reference 1 denotes five bobbins arranged on a floor stand 2. Conductors 3, which are to be included in thecable, are rolled on these bobbins. From the bobbins each conductor is drawn through a wire guide 4 and via a pulley wheel 8 to a puller wheel 7 shaped as a planar cylinder, the periphery of which the conductors follow until, via the pulley wheel 9, they bend toward the nozzle 5 of a twisting machine 6. For each wire guide 4 there is a pneumatic driving device 12, by means of which the wire guide can be activated to take an arbitrary position in a path limited by two outer positions and arranged mainly across the feeding direction of the conductors. Reference 11 denotes an endless band, which runs in a path across the puller wheel '7, the two pulley wheels 8 and 9 and a further pulley wheel 10. The endless band 11 presses the conductors against the cylindrical surface of the puller wheel, whereby a planar bundle or band of parallel conductors is formed. The positons of the wire guides in their respective paths determine the relative positions of the conductors in the planar bundle of conductors and this position will in turn be determining for the relative positions of the conductors in the twisted cable when it is completed. The fact that the conductors form a planar bundle before they are twisted together, within which bundle the positions of the conductors determined by the wire guides are fixed, in consequence of the conductors being pressed against the puller wheel by the endless band, makes it possible to change the relative positions of the conductors by moving the wire guides relatively little.

FIG. 2 shows a wire guide and a pneumatic device for moving the wire guide. The pneumatic device comprises a cylinder 23, in which a movable piston 24 is fixed on one end of a piston rod 22, extending through the cylinder 23 and out through an opening in one end of the cylinder. The wire guide 21 is fixed at the end of the piston rod situated outside the cylinder end, the wire guide 21 by means of the pneumatic device being brought to take an arbitrary position between the two outer positions denoted A and B. Compressed air tubes, not shown in the Figure, are connected to the two ends of the cylinder and the movements of the pis v ton are in a known manner controlled by solenoid valves, not shown in the Figure, connected in these tubes. The solenoid valves are controlled for example by means of a programming tape fed into a tape recording device included in a controlling apparatus connected to the solenoid valves. By means of this it will be possible to change the relative positions of the conductors according to a pattern punched in the tape, which gives the cable good transmission qualities. It is also possible to make a random change of the relative positions of the conductors by using a so called random number generator when punching the tape.

The change of the relative positionsof the conductors may also be controlled by a measuring device measuring important trans-mission data, e.g. the crosstalk, one or several wire guides being actuated when predetermined values or relationships are achieved.

In the same manner as the positons of individual com ductors in a cable can be varied by means of the apparatus according to the invention, it is also possible to bring groups of conductors to change positions without departing from the idea of the invention.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for manufacturing a telephone cable which includes a plurality of twisted conductors comprising a source of individual conductors,-a conductor twisting means, conveying means for moving individual conductors along individual substantially parallel paths.

to said conductor twisting means, a plurality of wire guides disposed in the path of the conductors from said source to said twisting machine, each of said wire guides supporting a different one of the conductors, means for selectively and individually moving each of said wire guides to different positions along lines substantially transverse to the substantially parallel paths so that each of the conductors can be directed to an arbitrary position relative to the positions of the other conductors and forming means, downstream from said ductors to form the first planar array.

l 4 t l l 

1. Apparatus for manufacturing a telephone cable which includes a plurality of twisted conductors comprising a source of individual conductors, a conductor twisting means, conveying means for moving individual conductors along individual substantially parallel paths to said conductor twisting means, a plurality of wire guides disposed in the path of the conductors fRom said source to said twisting machine, each of said wire guides supporting a different one of the conductors, means for selectively and individually moving each of said wire guides to different positions along lines substantially transverse to the substantially parallel paths so that each of the conductors can be directed to an arbitrary position relative to the positions of the other conductors and forming means, downstream from said wire guides, for forming the conductors into a flat planar array of parallel conductors wherein the positions of the conductors within the array are determined by the positions of said wire guides.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said forming means includes a rotating planar cylinder and an endless band opposite said cylinder for pressing the conductors to form the first planar array. 